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The Selvedge Yardis proud to announce a partnership with our New Zealand friends Triumph & Disaster. T&D is known for their top-notch grooming goods, and we’ve recently had the pleasure of getting to know the founder Dion Nash and some of his team. Turns out we have a lot in common– we love a great party, and getting off the grid… So we’ve decided to throw a “Greaser Getdown” party together at our shop in New Hope, PA on July 30th. And get this– the attendee wearing the best “Greaser Getup” (think pomade pompadour, leather, denim, etc… 1950s greaser / teddy style) will win a trip for two that they’ll never forget! Bonus points awarded if you happen to also roll-in on a badass bike or Hot Rod! Space is limited for the party so you must RSVP your name and email to attend and have a chance to win to: info@selvedgeyard.com

TSY recently sat down with Triumph & Disaster founder, Dion Nash, to chat about all things T&D, and announce “THE GREASER GET DOWN” party and trip giveaway happening at The Selvedge Yard shop in New Hope, PA…

Photographer Bastian Glaessner shot these incredibly cool pics of the UK Atomic Festival described by the organizers as– “…an international line-up of bands & DJs playing in spectacular indoor venues, traditional flag-start drag racing, air displays, jiving, bopping & strolling, an enormous big-top with a 6,000 sq ft dance floor, a pre-1963 car show and drive-in movie, poodles, roller skating… and the best festival atmosphere ever!”

“On slight short notice I headed up north last weekend to meet up with a bunch of UK retro heads that got together on an old 30s airstrip outside Northampton to celebrate the annual Atomic bash of serious vintage fair. This mid-century-inspired festival had everything the gentleman drag-strip connoisseur’s heart might desire– a field full of polished pre-’63s metal to draw you in, plenty mean Rock ’n’ Roll fuzz booming from the speakers of the multiple stages, the gravity defying riders of the Demon-Drome of death spinning their 1920s Indians up the 30 foot wall and last but not least a glorious stretch of glaring concrete that just begged the rod riders to be raced!” ~Bastian Glaessner

“Despite the somewhat grey skies the eclectic mob turned out in style! Bombers, raw jeans, pomaded hair and neat pressed curls as far as the eye could see. From gear-heads to knuckle freaks, young-guns to old-timers, everybody made an effort and rocked up spotting their most stylish attire. It all made for a photographers dream really.” ~Bastian Glaessner

In case you missed it over on the TSY facebook page I’ve been obsessed with the below piece of work for quite some time, and finally posted it up and asked the beloved The Selvedge Yard clan for help in identifying the artist. It took about all of 2 seconds.

As a kid, my healthy diet of Happy Days, Sha Na Na, and flicks like The Lords of Flatbush deeply engrained a love of greaser culture and style that will surely remain until I die. “Bad Girls” by James Alfred Meese slays me with every viewing. Obviously the cover art was intentionally as lurid and enticing as possible to get you to part with your money and buy the “pulp” paperbacks that were named after the cheaply produced paper they were printed on. Here are a few other fine examples of pulp art, which really peaked in the ’50s & ’60s, in my humble opinion.

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Bad Girls — paperback cover art by James Alfred Meese, 1958

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Bad Girls– They prowl the fringe of the underworld for kicks — cover art by James Alfred Meese, 1958

In the 1960s & 70s, writer and photographer Danny Lyon made a name for himself covering the Southern Civil Rights movement, and went on to give the world 3 incredible works– The Bikeriders, in which he chronicles his travels as a member of the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club, The Destruction of Lower Manhattan, documenting the large-scale demolition of our country’s greatest city back in 1967, and Conversations with the Dead in which he photographs and writes about Texas inmatess in 6 different prisons, Billy McCune in particular, over 14 months time. Danny Lyon’s images are iconic, and he is considered by many as the gold standard for motorcycle photography to this day.

“If ‘The Wild One’ were filmed today, Marlon Brando and the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club would all have to wear helmets. I used to be afraid that when (Hells) Angels became movie stars and Cal the hero of the book, the bikerider would perish on the coffee tables of America. But now I think that this attention doesn’t have the strength of reality of the people it aspires to know, and that as long as Harley-Davidsons are manufactured other bikeriders will appear, riding unknown and beautiful through Chicago, into the streets of Cicero.” –Danny Lyon

The Outsiders is a movie I grew up on– a tight-knit group of greaser misfits from Tulsa, Oklahoma (circa 1966) just trying to survive the only way they knew how. The film was originally released to mixed reviews– a lot of people seemed upset that Coppola would choose to do a movie about teen angst– but Coppola never truly meant it to be about that at all — his intensions were probably not what you’d think. What inspired Coppola was, believe it or not, a middle school class (who were fans of The Godfather) that wrote to him about making a new sort of gangster film — based on novel they had read, The Outsiders. Coppola read the book himself, and was moved to not only do The Outsiders– he also adapted Rumble Fish, starring Micket Rourke and Matt Dillon, into a movie the year after. It’s a classic that launched a lot of guy’s careers. It’s also a must-see for vintage, tough as nails, greaser-style, denim looks.